COCOA, Fla. — A Florida man is accused of killing four people, including his biological daughter, at their residence early Wednesday, authorities said.
Domenico Claude Gigante, 36, of Rockledge, was arrested Wednesday and charged with four counts of first-degree murder, according to Brevard County Sheriff’s Office booking records.
Gigante is accused of killing Glenda Terwilliger, 63; Michael Andrew Watson, 36; Constance Marie Terwilliger, 35; and Constance’s daughter, Kiarra Terwilliger, 15, WFTV reported. The victims were killed in Canaveral Groves, an unincorporated area of Brevard County.
According to an arrest affidavit filed in Brevard County Circuit Court, deputies said two boys, ages 9 and 6, survived the shooting and called 911 shortly after midnight on Wednesday. The two children were Watson’s sons, the sheriff’s office said.
Gigante is the biological father of Kiarra Terwilliger and was formerly in a relationship with her mother, Constance Terwilliger, according to the affidavit.
“Folks, I’m going to tell you that this is an extremely violent individual with an extremely violent past dating back as far as 2005, who should have never been on our streets, where he could take the lives of this entire family,” Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said at a news conference. “This is the result of a violent individual being left out on the streets where he could harm somebody else.”
New court documents claim he killed his 15-year-old daughter and a woman he was once in a relationship with. https://t.co/SDN9QxgFxn
— WFTV Channel 9 (@WFTV) March 2, 2023
Gigante was arrested in 2005 for domestic violence and battery, in 2008 for multiple counts of cruelty to animals, and in 2012 for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault, according to the sheriff.
While Ivey did not specify how the victims were killed, the arrest affidavit stated that Gigante’s roommate told police that he had asked Gigante, “Did you do this?” According to the affidavit, Gigante said he shot his teen daughter three times. It was unclear how the other three victims died.
The roommate also told detectives that Gigante had been upset with the strained relationship with his daughter, according to the affidavit. He allegedly told his roommate on Tuesday night at approximately 11:30 p.m. EST that “I guess I’m going to go over there and kill them all,” the affidavit stated.
Gigante is being held without bail, online records show.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with this family as they face this most difficult time,” Ivey told reporters. “I can’t even imagine what they’re going through, having lost their entire family.”
